Asda pulls diet ready meals from shelves after Slimming World dispute

March 19,2017 20:17

Supermarket giant Asda has pulled a range of diet ready meals from its shelves after facing legal action from Slimming World. The supermarket chain launched their own-brand Slimzone meals in January, stating on packaging the meals were "free to enjoy ...

"[So] we were unable to confirm whether or not the meals would be designated as Free Food on Slimming Worldâ€™s healthy eating plan."Itâ€™s always been our view that Asda were misusing our trademarks to promote the range, trading on the back of our much-loved and respected name and reputation, regardless of whether the meals count as Free Food on our healthy eating plan."The spokesperson added: "Itâ€™s never been our intention to prevent Asda from selling healthy meals that help people lose weight â€“ our concern has been about our trademarks, and we hope that Asda will be able to relaunch the range without relying on Slimming Worldâ€™s trademarks or name.A chicken tikka masala, a cottage pie and a Thai green curry were just some of the meals pulled from the shelves on Sunday morning.An Asda spokesperson said the meal packs included a statement informing customers that the range was not endorsed by Slimming World.The spokesperson added: "We take great pride in the integrity of the claims we make about our products. "Recent information has come to light indicating that the method used by Slimming World to assess whether a ready-meal is free or not, surprisingly, is partly subjective and involves more than simply making food with free ingredients.â€œSlimzone was always intended to bring more choice and lower prices to customers shopping for healthy frozen ready meals but because of this new information, we have chosen to remove the range while we consider the best option for our customers."